Mark Karasek

Mark Karasek, a University of Illinois alum, has more than 20 years of experience leading innovation and product development in the consumer and commercial durables space, and working with startups to identify customer value insights and define business strategy.

In addition to his position as Clinical Assistant Professor at the Technology Entrepreneur Center, Mark is Strategic Technical Advisor at Crescend Technologies, a market leader in the development of high energy solid state microwave generators. Previously, he was an Adjunct Faculty Member in the Office of Professional Education program in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University, teaching graduate courses in innovation management, lean design, project management and business process redesign.  

In 2019, he retired from his role as Executive Vice President of Engineering and Chief Technology Officer of The Chamberlain Group, a privately held corporation with 5000+ employees worldwide and a global leader in the Access and Security markets. Mark led innovation at Chamberlain for almost 20 years and managed an active intellectual property portfolio.

Mark is active in the Chicago startup community as a board member of mHUB Chicago. He also completed training as an Adjunct Instructor in the National Science Foundation I-Corps Program in 2019.  

Mark earned his bachelor's degree in Engineering Mechanics (Theoretical and Applied Mechanics) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also earned his master's degree from UIUC in Mechanical Engineering (Fatigue and Fracture of Materials). His doctorate in Polymer Science was earned at Penn State University.